Pickamania Acoustic Music Festival
A project of the non-profit Sierra County Arts Council (SCAC), Pickamania will feature a talented line-up of musicians performing at the outdoor pavilion at the Black Range Lodge in Kingston, New Mexico. Your support helps the SCAC volunteers bring live music to Sierra County.
Kingston is surrounded by the Gila National Forest, where there is free primitive camping. There is also a small, free USFS campground near the Percha Creek just east of Kingston, and an RV park in the nearby town of Hillsboro, which also has a park with free camping.
Pickamania 2025 will kick off on Friday, September 5 at 6pm with Americana and country originals from local musicians Gary Harvell & Kingston Main Street. Next up are The Roswells, a 6-member western swing band from Albuquerque, with perfect country harmonies, and danceable honky-tonk and Tejano tunes guaranteed to get your feet moving. New this year is an adjacent dance floor, for those so inclined.
Public radio anchor Scott Brocato will M.C. the Saturday lineup starting at 2pm with modern bluegrass and swing music from Albuquerque’s Acoustic Gap, followed by the Hard Road Trio, from Las Cruces. The Trio, Steve Smith, Chris Sanders and Anne Luna, is reuniting for this special performance featuring a repertoire of their original Americana songs. Award-winning songstress Wil Maring and her partner, guitar and fiddle virtuoso and Nashville session musician Robert Bowlin, are up next, with intricate arrangements of folk, bluegrass, and traditional tunes. www.wilmaring.com. Next, the duo of flat-picking guitar champion Peter McLaughlin and Chris Brashear (fiddle and mandolin) will offer an original blend of “southwestern” bluegrass music, shaped by the landscapes and legends of the West. www.petermclaughlin.info. Saturday evening will culminate as Pickamania’s all-star musicians combine their talents in a crowd-pleasing “Super Jam”.
Sunday music, again with Scott Brocato as M.C., will begin at 11:30am, with an “open mic” offering the stage to local and regional musicians. At 12:30, Tif & Mollie, from Austin, TX, will entertain with high-energy indie folk/rock, mixing guitar and cello, loops and percussion. They’ll be followed by the lively ABQ Skeleton Crew, who perform an eclectic selection of folk, rock, blues and traditional songs with instrumental combinations including guitar, fiddle, dobro, ukulele, bass, accordion, keyboard, hammer and mountain dulcimer, banjo, cajon, autoharp and the occasional household appliance.
The outdoor pavilion and shady landscape at the Black Range Lodge offer a pleasant environment for music and mingling. Over the weekend, the Caballo Grill food truck will be offering tacos, burritos, burgers and other refreshments. Top that off with a slice of home-made apple pie from local apples. Black Range Vineyards will also be on hand to provide New Mexico wine and beer for purchase throughout the festival. blackrangevineyards.com
Since 2017 Pickamania has been held in the mountain community of Kingston, once a rich silver mining town, now a quiet hamlet surrounded by the Gila National Forest, about 30 minutes west of I-25. Come earlier on Saturday for a tour of the Kingston Ghost Town Museum (10am – 3pm) and an art exhibit at the Historic Percha Bank (10am – 2pm). Fresh-picked organic apples and fresh squeezed apple cider will also be for sale at the Kingston orchard.
This event is sponsored by Ethos Broadband, who will be providing a WiFi hot spot for the festivities, the Truth or Consequences Brewing Company, and Organ Mountain Solar and Electric of Las Cruces. It’s presented by the Sierra County Arts Council (SCAC) and advance tickets are available at their website, www.sierracountyarts.org. The SCAC is supported by a grant from New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information call the Black Range Lodge at 575-895-5652, or visit www.blackrangelodge.com.
